Scammers devise festive season trickery

JOHANNESBURG – CONSUMERS have been alerted to a new banking scam ahead of the festive season.

To carry out their devious plan, fraudsters remotely take control of the victim’s personal computer over the internet and gain access to their online banking profile.

They are sending unsuspecting consumers fake emails notifying them that fraud has occurred on their respective bank accounts’ or credit cards.

Afterwards, the customer receives a call from a fraudster claiming to be from their bank and offers to help block any fraudulent transactions by first requesting the customer to install “protection” software on their computer, which allows the fraudster to gain full control of the computer remotely.

Kovelin Naidoo, Cyber Security Officer at First Nation Bank (FNB), said fraudsters were employing carefully constructed scamming tactics with the ability to trick even the most vigilant customer.

The official thus urged customers to be careful especially ahead of the festive season.